Jose Mourinho has spoken of his excitement to finally have all of Tottenham’s attacking options fit and available as the club prepare to face West Ham tonight.
The north London side returned to action with a 1-1 draw against Manchester United in their first fixture of the restarted Premier League season, a result which leaves the club eighth in the division and nine points adrift of the Champions League places.
Spurs have endured a difficult season so far, with Mourinho’s hopes having been hindered by a succession of injury problems, notably the long-term absences of leading scorers Harry Kane and Son-Heung Min.
Both players have now returned to action alongside the likes of Ben Davies and Moussa Sissoko, while Dele Alli is also available following a one-match suspension, and Mourinho believes his side are now better placed to make a late push towards the top four.
“I start the first match without Hugo Lloris, without Erik Lamela and then in the first match I lost Ben Davies,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “Then later I lost Harry Kane. And I lost [Heung-Min] Son. And I lost [Moussa] Sissoko. And we have lots of problems.
“So I think this has been a very, very special season for us. Since the beginning – not just since my arrival – since the beginning it was a very, very difficult season for the club, for the team.
“But now we have this opportunity to try to get points and try to get the best possible position – which probably for me is not the position that we think we have the potential for.
“But we now just think about the next eight matches and that’s it.”
Spurs were winless in six fixtures prior to the season’s suspension as they struggled for goals amid a lack of options, though Mourinho is confident his side will soon return to winning ways amid a full complement of attacking players.
“It’s fantastic,” Mourinho added. “Tottenham always had a fantastic group of attacking players and in the January market Steven Bergwijn coming even improved that. Not just to be one more, but to be one more fantastic player with great ability.
“So now we have the six players available which is a very, very good attacking force that allows us to start the game and have players on the bench to make changes in case we have a need.
“And I think in this moment, with this long period without football, the attacking players especially, it is not easy for them. So to have in this moment, three plus three is a great situation for us.”
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